WHAT POSSIBLE GLORY COULD THERE BE IN A MINISTRATION OF DEATH AND CONDEMNATION?

In 2Cor.3 Paul lays out the case for the glory of the Old Testament. And the much more glory in it's successor The New Testament. He says in vs.7-9, "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."

The glory in both the New and the Old testaments is the presence of God. A presence Paul says in Rom.3:23 all men are in need of saying, "All have sinned/missed the mark and fallen short of/lack the glory/presence of God".

In the Old Testament that glory, God's presence with Israel, was in the ark of the covenant. This is where the Spirit of God dwelt in those days. Only certain people were allowed to even touch the poles that were used to carry the ark. So glorious was the presence of God in it.

In both testaments His glory exercises preservative qualities. In the Old Testament by showing them through the law what caring for each other really looks like. And what fidelity to God looks like. And through these that a bloodline for Jesus to come through would be assured.

The letter to the Hebrews covers all of this in great detail revealing the Old Testament's fulfillment in Christ. And in 2Cor.3 we find Paul using this language to show the difference between what the law actually did, and what many have wrongly come to believe it was for.

By this wrong assumption about the law many have wrongly concluded that the law shows us the character of God. But, in Phil.3:6-8 Paul rejects this notion. Here he speaks of his relationship with the law in this way saying, "...touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ".

Did you see/hear that? Paul says that even though he knew and kept the law blamelessly he counted all that as loss and dung compared to knowing Christ. This means that knowing and keeping the law, and knowing Jesus, are not the same thing. Serving not only as proof that the law is not the character of God.

And in Gal.3:19 Paul also shows that the Old Testament law was only a temporary preservative needed to bring Israel to the time when Jesus would come.

Paul's first reference is to show them the glory of the Old Testament is written in stones. Not in the heart. In stones because they are very durable. A necessary quality because the instructions were given to preserve them as a people over thousands of years whose bloodline the Messiah would come through.

And because they were natural men, and not spiritual, the Old Testament's glory was not in the people. So it's glory was God's presence in an outward temple made with the hands of men. While the New Testament's glory is God's presence in the people who were themselves made to be the temple where God's presence dwells by the new birth.

So the connection Israel had with God under the law was through those instructions. Temporary instructions that carried with them some very real consequences. Consequences both for their obedience, and disobedience, that they themselves were to carry out. Consequences that were the blessings and cursings found in Deut.28.

These consequences were meant to invoke in Israel a sense of responsibility for their actions that was to bring them together as a people in a way that simply being related by blood could never do. By teaching them how to relate to each other as God does by "doing unto others as they would have others do to them". Jesus reminded them of this in Luke6:31.

And when He told them the parable of the Good Samaritan. A parable that showed them that while law keeping was very important. Doing so should always take a back seat to their care for another's wellbeing.

So the condemnation and death that was in the law was glorious because it acted as a preservative to 1 keep a pure bloodline through which Jesus would be born. And 2 to help them see the value each person has simply because they are made in God's image. And 3 it also served as a preservative by keeping them from destroying each other with the kind of practices the law prohibited that were once common among them.

This bloodline issue was so serious to God that He flooded the earth and destroyed Sodom and Gemorrah on account of it. Because it was a promise God made to Adam and Eve in Gen.3:15.

So God placed these stipulations in the law. Because if Israel were to mingle their blood with that of the people around them, many of whom practiced the idolatry Jude1:7 speaks of to "go after strange flesh suffering the vengeance of eternal fire", Jesus could not represent mankind on the cross. And His death would not have been on behalf of our sin as the scripture says it was.

So the glory of the ministration of condemnation and death was given to prepare the way for Messiah to come. Insuring that His body would be the same flesh and blood all men have as Heb.2:14 says. And fully God as John1:1,14 says. So that He could both represent mankind in his mortality. And as God wield the power to conquer mortality on our behalf by the resurrection.

So even though it may sound impossible that a ministration of death and condemnation could be glorious. We see how it's glory through God's presence with Israel being in the outward temple in which God dwelled then. Was glorious in that it was necessary for mankind to be delivered from the mortality Adam was made with. To the immortality that the God with us, Jesus, has provided for us.

Recognizing this was it's glory we need to be joined with Christ to see it's fulfillment in us as God planned from before He made the world. For 1Peter1:18-21 makes this clear saying, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."

God did this for every man that has ever been born. Providing this "way of salvation" for all who by their own God given free will, will choose to trust in Jesus, and believe in His resurrection.

Will you trust in Jesus now? Will you confess Jesus is your Lord to lead and guide you in all truth by the Holy Spirit? And believe He has raised from the dead on your behalf so that you too can receive the spiritual body His resurrection has procured for you? If you will then the deliverance from mortality to immortality that Paul said can be yours will be yours.

Do this... and I will see thou there or in the air!

This message can also be heard at: Rumble

 

Meet Moses! He's a young man who grew up in the most challenging circumstances. Today, he has larger-than-life goals to achieve something extraordinary.

Profile-18

Newsletter

Support Orphans

orphans-1

Editor's Bio

A Long Journey Home Book Cover

A Thrilling Ride

Every once in awhile, a book comes across your path that is impossible to put down. A Long Journey Home is not a casual book that you read in a week or earmark to complete at a later date. Once you begin, cancel your schedule, put your phone on silent, find a quiet place where you cannot be disturbed, and complete the journey. Click Here to Purchase on Amazon.com!

Recent News

Watchman: The Truth Is Being Kept From the American People: There Will Be a Hard Landing & Google Is a Statistic Tyrant Hand-Picked by the New World Order…

Those That Suppress the Truth Are Responsible... HNewsWire: Our Social Media Platforms Continue to Hide the Truth From the American People, by Shadow Banning. The ...
Read More

IS THIS ARMAGEDDON?!

Back in the 70's when I first came to faith in Jesus we were so in love with God that all we could think about ...
Read More

Watchman: Daily Devotional, One Minute They Were Worshipping God for Their Deliverance, and the Next, They Were Whining About Their Fears

Exodus 14:12-14 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us ...
Read More

People Should Start to Get Concerned the Food Chain Is Broken the Signs are Obvious…

Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important Satan Soldiers (Obama), (Trump) ,(Bill Gates) ,(Soros) Hawaii is facing ...
Read More

Reach People

Place Your Ad Here

Leave a Comment